"Tai Sui" Temple

Just last week, my sweet husband (OWLoon) told me this... "There's this famous Tai Sui temple in Batu Pahat that many from Malaysia and Singapore visits yearly. They've got this Tai Sui lamp and since you "fan tai sui" this year, I thought of taking you there to light the lamp"...

So while yesterday was spent mostly in bed... ZZZzzz-ing I mean... today was super productive!!! OWLoon and I got up around 11-ish and after brunch, we headed out on our road trip together with my parents and little niece. The weather was terribly HOT... thus, the skies were gorgeously blue with bright white clouds!!! Traffic was pretty smooth too... tho' it took us 3 looooong hours before we reached Batu Pahat.

We reached Batu Pahat at around 3pm and most coffee shops were either closed or in the midst of closing up. But we found this coffee shop that sells only fish balls noodle... Since we had no choice, everyone ordered a bowl... Definitely not recommended... blehhh...

From there, with the directions from the coffee shop fella (I left my GPS at home... bahhh), we managed to find the Four Oceans Dragon Emperor Tua Pek Kong Temple (Translation: Shi Hai Lung Wang Ta Po Kung). You won't miss the temple cos' there'll be lots of tour buses parked outside.

Right outside the temple, there was this well. The water are meant to be used to wash one's car plate or house number plate... so that ahem... can "tiok" lor!

But the main reason we were there was to pray to "Tai Sui Yeh". Unlike other temples we visited, this temple has a total of 60 different "Tai Sui" seated on the huge altar (picture on the right below). Then right beneath the altar, there's a little tunnel that one must crawl through... While crawling through, the temple personnel will be chanting good wishes while ringing the bell... OWLoon and I crawled through the tunnel side by side and though my knees hurt, I felt blessed... (maybe it's psychological but there's really no harm in trying and believing)...

OWLoon's mother had previously lighted a "Tai Sui" lamp for OWLoon thus after I lighted one and had my name (+ family) placed on the wall, we tried searching for OWLoon's name. Surprise surpise, but of the many rows of names, his was on the same row as mine! Talk about coincidence! :)

The picture on the left shows 2 brass horses (tho' blocked by the fellas in the picture). I can't read Mandarin thus when OWLoon told me to touch the horse head, body, legs and tail, I did just that. Each part of the horse has a different meaning. But I only remembered the tail part: Smooth ending for everything in your life... :)

Here's a view of the entire temple (facing a river):

For those of you who are interested to visit the temple, here's a map for your reference. You can also visit the temple's website at: http://www.einfo.com.my/hocktecktuah/

From Batu Pahat, we drove to Muar... to get their yummy-licious Otak-Otak!!! We bought our supplies from "Yong Sheng" (a shop that sells local delicacies just like the Tan Kim Hock in Malacca).

Since Malacca is on the way... we stopped by for dinner. Can't remember the last time I went Malacca but somehow, everything seemed different now. Like how the "Eye on Malaysia" is now permanently in Malacca with this brand new observation deck called "Menara Taming Sari" nearby.

We had our dinner at this new hawker center opposite "Dataran Pahlawan". Nothing great but since it's new, OK la.

By the time we got home, it was 10.30pm and that meant that we spent over 10 hours covering Batu Pahat-Muar-Malacca-KL. It was truly a tiring but satisfying day! :)